Start
of tour
IJames Lastproves withhis80 years, hestillcounts
to the top of the band leader.
Thisalso feelsGuenterKrueger,behis
largestand
loyalfantoo.Hespares notimeor effort, to travelafterwards
his star.

Bayreuth
-The grandsonentirelyoccursin the footsteps
of his grandfather: IfJonah
comes to a visit,
every time GuenterKruegerhas
to take aJames Last-LP. "Grandpa, switch on the music,"
says thethree-year-old child,
as soon as heis
through the door.
Swiftly hethenjumpsto "Caribbean
Nights" or "They call me
Hansi"wild
through the flat.

But actuallyby theKruegersanyway
runs
constantlyJames Last.
"His swingingbig bandsoundI canhearfor hours," tellsthe65-year
old man. No wonder. The
Berlineris not only a
big fanof themost
successfulband
leaderof all time,
but
he
boaststheworld'slargestprivatecollection ofJames Last
too. Approximately 5000sound-recordings and storage
mediums of all kinds,500 posters,
lots of programs, music
books, posters, videos, autographs, DVDs and
hundreds of othercollector-items
he owns.300 hours
tv-recordingshecalls his own
and
tv-recordingsfrom
the Netherlands, England,
Spain, Japan, China,
America and South Africa
too. Nearly all
allnewspaper articles
he has collected too.

Kruegeriscloserto him,
closerthan the otherfans."Hansi", he
says and howJames Lastis called byall friends,"Hansi and Iknownus since a long time."
HisJames Last-fever
started in 1982
while a concertof the greatorchestraat the BerlinWaldbuehne.
"I wasaway 2 meters
from the
stage andwas
more like happy.
Fromthat
time, I
get "crazy"andbought everythingI couldfind
from or about
James Last."Noflea-market was
sure by
GuenterKrueger, holidayshave been madeinthe states,
from where theLPs
etc. were missing in the shelf at home.

A yearlater,
the Berlinerand his wife
gets the
chanceto be present at the
closing ceremony of the"Superlast"-LP. "Always
at theend ofthe recordings of the
nonstop-dancing
records,James Last made
a
large
"Mitklatsch-Party". Herecordedthe
party-soundandmixedit
to the
recording,"
like
the65-year
old man knows.

With
a pounding heart,
the Kruegerswent toHamburgtobe there-but thePolydorStudiowas dark."Suddenly, someone cameout: it was Hansi- firstsurprised andthena little embarrassed,becausethe partyhad beenpostponedby a weekbecause therecording stillwents."
James Lastoffered thecoupletohave a drink andthe twowere allowedto be thereasthe conductor
recorded
a track.
"Then he invited usto a dinner," GuenterKrueger
remembers himself.James Lastjumped onthe
back-seatof
Kruegerfamily car
and
they went through the middle of the city up to the
restaurant. "I was soexcitedbythat, I donotknow where I'm going
along and how manyred traffic-lights
I overlooked."
Itwasa wonderful evening, "But I
could noteat
anything, because I was so excited", the
fan remembers.

In the meantime he has meet
James Lastmany times,even
he was invited
tohis 60thbirthday
1989 in Bremen,
where
the internationally known
band leaderwas born.
"He isnot
an
idol
for me," thecollectorsays, "I
would rather callhimas
averygood friend
or like a very well known person."
Kruegerpraises "the
nice guy",
who has been a human being.
"With his
music,
he has done a lot morefor
theinternational understanding,
than any politician," says
hisfan.
Finally
and till yet, he
sold
over100 million
mediumsall over the
world."His music holds together."
Throughtheir shared love
ofJames Last
and the Internet,
in the meantime
Krueger
got many friendsfrom everywhere
in the world.

"Hansi" of course
is
everyone's
favorite, without any behaviour,
andalwaysto
get
forajoke."He's a really good,
warm personand
he
has a special radiance."
Kruegeremphasized thathe did notlook attheartistashis "property"
like a lot of other
fans doand"slime around
him"
at concerts,
because
theyknown
how generouslyJames Last
is.
"They want to
sponge
a
free ticket
orsomething else, Ireally
don't
want that."

As2006
theposters werestuckedforthe "LastTour", immediately
GuenterKruegerwas
sure, not
was meant
the"last tour"
ofJames Last."Once,
Hansihastold methat he needsthe musicas the air
tobreathe.Without music
he
can not live."
Hehopes thatLast-beforeninedays, hecelebrated his 80th
birthday-lives long andstill
do
many
concerts

SORRY, for the bad english from above, but that's all what I can
remember from my english lessons in school. - It's a long time
since...